1

The Asian Tsunami's Havoc and Death Toll:

Natures Wrath or Human Shortsightedness?
Zvy Dubinsky1, Osnat Chomsky2 and Steve Brenner3
1The

Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences

Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900
2National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and
Limnological Research, Tel Shikmona, P.O. Box 8030, Haifa 31080
3Department of Geography and Environment, Bar-Ilan University
Ramat-Gan 52900
Israel
1. Introduction
The unprecedented devastation caused by the December 2004 tsunami (Reuters, 2005) was
followed by environmentalists' claims that the human toll and overall impact were
aggravated by disregard for conservation of coral reefs and mangrove forests (Channel
News Asia, 2005; Cripps, 2005; Mangrove Action Project, 2005). Corals surround tropical
shorelines (Spalding et al., 2001) and beyond them, on land, grow, in most cases, dense belts
of mangroves (Chapman, 1977). These twin barriers are thought to protect shorelines from
waves and may be capable of mitigating tsunami impact (Fig. 1). According to reports in the
mass media, reefs and mangroves sheltered people from the tsunami's impact, whereas in
the hardest hit areas in terms of human casualties, coral reefs and mangroves had been
removed in order to make room for shrimp and fish mariculture (Kaban, 2005). Here we
present an attempt to evaluate the potential of the combination of coral reefs and mangroves
to attenuate tsunamis, and validate the claims regarding the protective function of reefs and
mangroves. Special attention will be given to the extent of the recent destruction of reef and
coral ecosystems in the region afflicted by the tsunami, and the importance of their
conservation and of remediation and rehabilitation efforts (Kaban, 2005).
Tsunamis have ravaged coastal communities since the earliest extant myths and written
records (Table 1). The most prominent among these was the one generated by the volcanic
eruption of Thera (Santorini), thought to have wiped out the Minoan civilization
(Galanopoulos, 1960; Pararas-Carayannis, 1973), and sending survivors as far east as Canaan,
where they settled as the biblical Sea people or Philistines, who competed with the Hebrews
for what was to become the Holy Land. There are historical records of tsunamis with death
tolls ranging from no victims to estimates of over 300,000 in the last one (Table 1).
The Sumatra tsunami of December 2004 was the first to be witnessed via television in
virtually every home, bringing the destructive potential of oceanic waves to unprecedented
public awareness. In the wake of this tsunami, there have been several reports in the mass
media regarding the reduction in the human death toll and overall destruction in areas that

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Fig. 1. World distribution of coral reefs and mangroves. Key: Coral = red, Mangrove = green
After www.unep-wcmc.org/marine/data/coral_mangrove/marine_maps_main.html

Principal areas
Crete-Santorini, Ancient Greece
Tokaido-Nankaido, Japan
Portugal, Morocco
Ryukyu Trench, Japan
South China Sea
Kyushu Island, Japan
Sumatra region
Sumatra region
Northern Chile
Krakatau, Indonesia
Sanriku, Japan
Tokyo
Northeastern coast, Japan
Japan
Shikoku, Japan
Fukui, western Japan
Hokkaido

Magnitude
?
8.4
8.5
7.4
7.0
6.4
8.7
8.5
8.5
?
7.6
8.3
8.9
?
8.0
7.1
8.2

Year
1600 50 BC
1707
1755
1771
1782
1792
1833
1861
1868
1883
1896
1923
1933
1944
1946
1948
1952

Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

8.2

1952

9.5

1960

500-2,300

1976
1995
1998
December
2004

5,000
1,800
3,000

Chile, Hawaii, Japan, and the

Philippines
Philippines
Kobe, Western Japan
Papua New Guinea
Indian Ocean

7.2
7.1
9.0

Table 1. Historical records of major tsunamis

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Fatalities
~100,000
30,000
60,000
13,486
40,000
15,030
36,000
Thousands
25,674
36,500
26,360
140,000
3,064
1,251
1,330
3,769
8,233
Considerable
loss of life

26,

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The Asian Tsunami's Havoc and Death Toll: Natures Wrath or Human Shortsightedness?

were sheltered from the wave by intact reefs and mangrove belts (Chapman, 1977; Spalding
et al., 2001; Channel News Asia, 2005; Cripps, 2005; Mangrove Action Project, 2005). These
reports were eventually substantiated by a field survey of Sri Lankan mangrove sites, whose
destruction increased tsunami damage (Dahdouh-Guebas et al., 2005).
The global distributions of coral reefs and mangroves are almost identical: they skirt
shorelines between 30 degrees north and south of the equator. These ecosystems are linked
by complementary environmental requirements, and also by interactions among physical,
chemical, and biological processes. Furthermore, the destruction of one endangers and
eventually destroys the other (Kuhlman, 1998).
Coral reefs are biogenic, calcium carbonate, marine structures, based on the symbiosis between
corals and unicellular microalgae, the zooxanthellae (Brandt, 1883). The algae contribute highenergy photosynthate whereas the host animal, an avid predator on zooplankton, provides the
symbionts with metabolic wastes rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. It is this association that
allows corals to outcompete seaweeds in the warm, transparent, nutrient-poor blue deserts
of the tropics. Coral reefs extend over thousands of kilometers from the surface down to 100
m, usually decreasing in vigor below 30 m. This depth distribution is dictated by the
exponential decrease in underwater light, upon which the algae depend (Achituv & Dubinsky,
1990). In recent decades, rising ocean temperatures have been implicated in bleaching events
in which corals lose their symbionts and die (Hoegh-Guldberg, 2004). In addition, terrigenous
nutrients and sediments disrupt the hostsymbiont association, leading to the replacement of
corals by other benthic communities. Over 70% of the worlds reefs have been destroyed or are
in great danger (Wilkinson, 2002), (Fig. 2). In the areas worst hit by the recent tsunami, the
overriding cause of reef destruction (Fig. 3) was the spread of shrimp ponds and other
mariculture enterprises, as well as tourist recreational facilities.

Fig. 2. Global distribution of coral reef destruction

www.unep.org/ vitalwater/marine.htm

Mangroves dominate 75% of tropical coastlines between 25 N and 25 S (Duke et al., 2002).
These coastal forests are made up of some forty species of trees and shrubs adapted to life in
high-salinity waters, where they are rooted in anaerobic mud. They depend on aerial roots,
or pneumatophores, supplying their roots with oxygen (Hanagata et al., 1999). The

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The Tsunami Threat - Research and Technology

Fig. 3. Main causes for reef destruction: tourism; poison fishing; overexploitation;
sedimentation; coral harvesting; dynamite fishing; pollution
After Bryant et al., Reefs at Risk; a Map-Based Indicator tom the World's Coral Reefs, World
Resources Institute (WRI), Washington DC, 1998
mechanisms allowing them to retain water against the osmotic gradient posed by seawater
still elude full understanding (Zimmermann et al., 2002). To increase chances of survival, in
many mangrove species, fruits germinate while still connected to the mother plant, and
when they fall off, they become planted in the soft soil (Hogarth, 1999). Mangrove forests
may reach a width of several hundred meters and a height of up to 40 m.
Mangroves act as a filter, preventing sediment from reaching the reef and abrading the
delicate coral tissues. They also absorb dissolved nutrients in runoff, forming a biofilter
protecting reefs from eutrophication. Indeed, the destruction of mangroves has led to the
death of adjacent reefs (Dubinsky & Stambler, 1996; Dahdouh-Guebas et al., 2005). In yet
another recent study (Danielsen et al., 2005) of the Cuddalore District in southeastern India
based on satellite images validated by surveys on the ground, the authors also confirm the
role of mangroves in attenuating tsunami waves and mitigating their destructive potential.
Their data are in agreement with experiments, which have shown that 30 trees per 100
square meters suffice to dissipate most of a tsunamis energy (Hiraishi & Harada, 2003).
More recently, Yanagisawa et al. (2009) used satellite images and field measurements to
assess the damage of the mangrove forests caused by the 2004 Asian tsunami along a stretch
of the coast of Thailand. They also used a numerical model to simulate the effects of the
tsunami on the mangroves and the role of the mangroves in reducing the inundation depth
and concluded that in addition to the density of the tree coverage, the tree stem diameter
and the initial inundation depth are crucial parameters in determining the survival rate of
the trees as well as the mangroves ability to reduce the inundation depth. The mangrove
roots serve as the reef's nurseries, where juveniles of myriad reef creatures find shelter from
predators. Coral reefs weaken surf, reducing the removal of soil and the uprooting of
mangroves and their seedlings.
The human need for land, firewood, and material for construction has acerbated the global
climate change-driven decline of corals (Buddemeier et al., 2004) and mangroves (Table 2).
However, our burgeoning appetite for seafood, and human greed have probably been the
driving force in recent decades behind the clearcutting of mangroves and their replacement,

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The Asian Tsunami's Havoc and Death Toll: Natures Wrath or Human Shortsightedness?

as well as that of reefs, by various mariculture enterprises and recreational villages. In

Southeast Asia, this destruction has led to losses of 70-90% of the reefs and mangroves
(Wilkinson, 2002).
It is of great interest to explore the potential of the twin barriers, mangrove forests and coral
reefs, to attenuate destructive waves and prevent disaster. We present here an initial
attempt of physically modeling and evaluating the attenuation of tsunami waves by reefs
and their further weakening by mangrove belts.
While it is clear that both the coral reefs and the mangroves play a role in reducing the
devastating effects of tsunami run-up and inundation of the coastal area, most of the
evidence has been anecdotal and taken from the mass media or from eyewitness reports.
Furthermore, the primary measure of tsunami damage is the number of casualties, which
may be more a function of land use and demographics than the force of the tsunami itself.
Therefore, in order to quantitatively assess the potential mitigating effects of coral reefs and
mangroves, we have conducted a series of simulations with an established wave model
(Chen et al., 2000; Kennedy et al., 2000), which has been tested for a wide variety of surface
wave types including tsunamis. The goal of our experiments is to demonstrate the role of
the bulk properties of the combined coral reef mangrove system as a barrier that can
mitigate the potential damage of the tsunami by reducing the inundation depth. We do not
consider or focus on the small scale details of the structure of the reef or the mangrove forest
as was done in other studies (e.g., Yanagisawa et al., 2009).

2. Model description and setup

The model we have chosen is the fully nonlinear, Boussinesq surface wave model
FUNWAVE (Chen et al., 2000; Kennedy et al., 2000) based on the work of Wei et al. (1995).
FUNWAVE is capable of simulating waves in the open sea as well as in the nearshore zone,
and has been tested extensively for a wide range of surface wave types, including tsunamis
(Chen et al., 2000; Watts et al., 2003). The model is based on the shallow water equations
which consist of equations for the conservation of mass (i.e., the free surface height) and the
horizontal momentum with parameterizations added to account for frictional dissipation
and wave breaking. Further details can be found in the references mentioned above. For this
study we use the two dimensional version of the model.
Since our goal is to assess the potential role of coral reefs and mangroves in reducing the
impact of tsunamis in general, rather than trying to simulate the specific details of the 2004
Asian tsunami, we focus on simulations of an idealized case, with bathymetry typical of an
ocean basin, and initial conditions typical of a tsunami that might be induced by an
earthquake of a magnitude 8-9 or more. The model domain consists of a 400-km-long by
200-km-wide channel. The bathymetry includes a 300-km-long abyssal plain with a constant
depth of 4000 m, a 40-km-wide continental slope over which the seafloor rises to 200 m,
followed by a continental shelf also 40 km wide. The beach above the mean water level
continues with the same slope as the shelf until reaching an elevation of 25 m, remaining flat
until the end of the domain. The bathymetry is uniform in the cross-channel direction, and a
sponge zone is imposed along all four boundaries. The grid spacing is 250 m.
For all experiments, the initial free surface is level and at rest, except in the area of the
earthquake. Here we assume that displacement takes the form of a 100-km-wide delta
function in which half of the zone is lifted and half is depressed. The magnitude is similar
to that estimated for the recent Sumatra tsunami, with instantaneous, initial upward and
downward displacements of +7.2 m and 3.5 m, respectively (Yalciner et al., 2004).

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Period covered

Loss, %

Region and country

Africa

To 1980sa
To 1980s
To 1980s
To 1980s
1971-88
To 1980s
1983-90
1983-90
1983-90
1970s to 1992
1983-90
1982-92
To 1986
To 1980s
To 1992-93
To 1992-93
To 1980s
1918 to 87-88
To 1993
To 1993
To 1992-93
a

50
60
50
70
4
60
Latin America
-6 (gain)
8
72
65
67
25
Asia
20
55
74
75
78
67
84
37
Oceania
8

Angola
Ivory Coast
Gabon
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Tanzania
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Mexico
Panama
Peru
Brunei
Indonesia
Malaysia
Myanmar
Pakistan
Philippines
Thailand
Vietnam
Papua New Guinea

Unless otherwise stated, the decline is relative to the earliest pre-destruction records

Table 2. Mangrove loss in selected countries with available data from the World Resources
Institute 1991, 2001 (Adeel & Pomeroy, 2002)
A coral reef can affect wave propagation and development by presenting an abrupt change
in bathymetry and through increased bottom roughness. To model the former effect, at any
grid point where a reef is present, the bottom depth is replaced by a step that rises to 1 m
below the surface. This was done for the three grid lines between the 11 and 14 m isobaths.
In FUNWAVE, wave energy dissipation is simulated by friction with the sea floor which is
represented by a quadratic bottom drag formulation (i.e., a drag coefficient multiplied by
the velocity magnitude and the relevant velocity component). The default value of the
dimensionless, bottom drag coefficient is 0.001. To model the roughness effect, we
arbitrarily assumed that the bottom drag coefficient at the reef grid points is the default
value multiplied by a constant factor. A range of multiplicative factors between two and
twenty was tested. The changes in the wave height over and beyond the reef were not
overly sensitive to the values tested and, thus, we chose a factor of ten as representative.
Mangroves present a permeable obstacle through which the wave can continue to
propagate, but the densely-packed roots and trees will lead to more rapid wave-energy
dissipation. Here, too, we model this effect through an increase of the drag coefficient. Field
studies of the impact of mangroves on short-period (wind) waves (Mazda et al., 1997) as

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The Asian Tsunami's Havoc and Death Toll: Natures Wrath or Human Shortsightedness?

well as wave tank models of tsunamis (Hiraishi & Harada, 2003) show that the increased
rate of energy dissipation across mangrove or other tropical tree forests can be expressed as
an equivalent drag coefficient that can be several orders of magnitude larger than usual.
Other investigators studied the dependence of the drag coefficient as a function of the tree
density for longer period waves. Thus for tidal scale flow Mazda et al. (2005) estimated the
drag coefficient to be in the range of O(0.1) O(10) while for a tsunami Teh et al. (2009)
estimated values of O(1). Thus, in our simulations at grid points where mangroves are
assumed to be present, we multiplied the default drag coefficient by a factor of 200, thus
giving a value of 0.2 which is at the lower end of the values estimated by Mazda et al. (2005)
and somewhat smaller than the values of Teh et al. (2009). The mangroves extend from a
water depth of 2.5 m to a land elevation of 3.75 m, thereby covering a 6-grid-point, 1.5-kmwide coastal strip.

3. Model results
Here we present results from four simulations for our typical rectangular ocean basin with
various combinations of fringing reefs and mangroves and an initial surface displacement
representative of the recent Sumatra earthquake. The simulations are designated as:
1) NONE a smooth, sandy bottom only; 2) REEF with a 750 m wide reef in the form of a
bathymetric step rising abruptly from 12 m to 1 m below the surface; 3) MANGROVE with
a 1.5 km wide mangrove forest centered on the still water coastline in which the bottom
drag is significantly increased; and 4) BOTH with a reef and a mangrove forest. The results
are summarized in Figure 4, where we show the time records of virtual wave gauges located
at four points along the centerline of our channel. The points are: (A) immediately seaward
of the coral reef; (B) immediately behind the reef; (C) at the mean water level coastline,
which is roughly midway through the mangrove; and (D) immediately landward of the
mangrove.
At point A, there was a clear separation between the simulations with and without the reef
as the primary wave approached and passed the station. Until minute 42, the NONE and
MANGROVE curves were coincident as were the REEF and BOTH curves. In the two
simulations with the reef, the shoaling effect of the reef led to a maximum wave height on
the seaward side that was more than 40% larger than in the cases without the reef, i.e., 11.7
m and 8.3 m, respectively. As the secondary wave approached, the curves from the four
simulations began to separate and fall into two new groups with and without mangroves.
The mangroves apparently reflected a certain amount of the wave energy back to the sea,
thereby producing a higher secondary wave than in the no-mangrove cases. Behind the reef,
at point B, the dissipating effect of the reef was evident. For the two simulations with the
reef, the maximum primary wave height was reduced by 25%, reaching only 7.1 m as
compared to 9.4 m for the two cases without the reef. Also, as at point A, the influence of
wave energy reflection by the mangroves can be seen with the appearance of a significant
secondary wave only in the two simulations that included the mangroves.
Point C is the mean still-water coastline. From here we began to see noticeable differences
between the results of the simulations. Not surprisingly, the highest wave occurred in the
NONE simulation. Based on additional simulations run without the reef and mangrove, we
found that an important parameter that controls the extent of run up and inundation is the
slope of the beach. However, since our interest here is to examine the role of the reef and the
mangrove, we only present the results with the same bottom slope in all experiments. The

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The Tsunami Threat - Research and Technology

order of the maximum wave heights above-ground for the four simulations is 11.8 m, 9.8 m,
8.5 m, and 7.3 m for NONE, REEF, MANGROVE, and BOTH, respectively.
Finally, point D is located four grid points landward of the coast (one point past the
mangrove). As at point C, the NONE simulation produced the highest wave, with a height of
8.4 m above-ground. The additional energy dissipation due to the reef reduced the wave
height by 26%. In contrast, the mangrove forest was very effective in blocking most of the
wave energy, leading to a 93% reduction in wave height. When both the reef and mangroves
were included, the tsunami was completely attenuated and did not emerge from the forest.
From our results, it is clear that while both coral reefs and mangroves contribute to mitigating
the destruction caused by tsunamis, it is the latter that provide the most effective protection.

Fig. 4. Time series from wave gauges located at points (A) seaward of the reef, (B)
immediately behind the reef, (C) still-water coastline, which is mid-way through the
mangrove, and (D) immediately behind the mangrove. For the sea points (A) and (B), the
values shown are the wave heights relative to the mean water level while for the land points
(C) and (D), the values shown are the water levels relative to the land elevation. At point A,
the curves for the primary wave for the NONE and MANGROVE cases are identical as are
the curves for the REEF and BOTH cases. For the BOTH case the tsunami never reaches
point D, beyond the mangrove, as indicated by the horizontal line

4. Conclusion
Based on our results and the results of other field and modeling studies, we can conclude
with reasonable confidence that the numerous anecdotal media reports describing the
protection afforded by intact coral reefs and mangrove belts from the 2004 Asian tsunami
are most likely true. Indeed, the paired reef-mangrove belt can significantly reduce and, in
some cases, totally dissipate tsunami-like wave energy, thereby reducing the destruction of
property, and most importantly, greatly reducing the human death toll. In summary, the

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The Asian Tsunami's Havoc and Death Toll: Natures Wrath or Human Shortsightedness?

11

conservation of coral reefs and adjacent mangrove forests, the remediation of damaged
ones, and the massive planting of new mangroves, will most likely contribute significantly
to the reduction and, perhaps, prevention of destruction on the scale of the Sumatra
tsunami, in addition to protecting shorelines and contributing to the preservation of our
planets vanishing biodiversity. The importance of preserving and planting mangrove
forests is summarized in the post-tsunami document "The Tsunami and Coastal Wetlands
Recommendations for Action" (2005).

5. Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Prof. James T. Kirby from the Center for Applied Coastal Research,
University of Delaware, for providing the FUNWAVE code and users manual.

6. References
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The Tsunami Threat - Research and Technology

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The Tsunami Threat - Research and Technology

Edited by Nils-Axel Mrner

ISBN 978-953-307-552-5
Hard cover, 714 pages
Publisher InTech

Published online 29, January, 2011

Published in print edition January, 2011

Submarine earthquakes, submarine slides and impacts may set large water volumes in motion characterized
by very long wavelengths and a very high speed of lateral displacement, when reaching shallower water the
wave breaks in over land - often with disastrous effects. This natural phenomenon is known as a tsunami
event. By December 26, 2004, an event in the Indian Ocean, this word suddenly became known to the public.
The effects were indeed disastrous and 227,898 people were killed. Tsunami events are a natural part of the
Earth's geophysical system. There have been numerous events in the past and they will continue to be a
threat to humanity; even more so today, when the coastal zone is occupied by so much more human activity
and many more people. Therefore, tsunamis pose a very serious threat to humanity. The only way for us to
face this threat is by increased knowledge so that we can meet future events by efficient warning systems and
aid organizations. This book offers extensive and new information on tsunamis; their origin, history, effects,
monitoring, hazards assessment and proposed handling with respect to precaution. Only through knowledge
do we know how to behave in a wise manner. This book should be a well of tsunami knowledge for a long
time, we hope.

How to reference

In order to correctly reference this scholarly work, feel free to copy and paste the following:
Zvy Dubinsky, Osnat Chomsky and Steve Brenner (2011). The Asian Tsunamis Havoc and Death Toll:
Natures Wrath or Human Shortsightedness?, The Tsunami Threat - Research and Technology, Nils-Axel
Mrner (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-552-5, InTech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/thetsunami-threat-research-and-technology/the-asian-tsunami-s-havoc-and-death-toll-nature-s-wrath-or-humanshortsightedness-

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